The installation of online ticket purchasing and baggage scanners at the Lagos-Ibadan train station is still under construction, according to Innocent Ajiji, President-General of the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NURW).
Ajiji said that he wasn’t certain of the management’s strategy for integrating point of sale into the service.
The NURW president told news reporters on Monday that management had planned for online ticket purchasing and luggage scanning at the Lagos-Ibadan train station.
He claimed that advertisements had been posted asking any business interested in managing online reservations to submit an application.
Ajiji said, “On the Abuja rail service, tickets are sold online, so one doesn’t need to go to the train stations before buying tickets, but that of Lagos-Ibadan is a work in progress.
“One of the reasons for the delay is because the Lagos-Ibadan rail was barely opened a few months back and the attack on the Abuja-Kaduna service also contributed to the delay in the installation of these gadgets. Adverts have been placed for interested companies to apply.”
He said if online bookings start before the end of the year, there would be no need for POS, as the online purchase of tickets would be a lot easier and safer, while passengers who could not buy online would do so at the ticketing booth.
On the baggage scanner, Ajiji said the facility had been acquired but yet to be installed. He noted that the reduction of train services as a result of the hike in diesel price and the Abuja-Kaduna train attack were some of the reasons why the government delayed the installation.
The NURW president said, “The reduction of the daily trips as a result of diesel price hike and the Abuja-Kaduna train attack have also contributed to the delay of some of these work processes by the government.
“If not for the interruption we had with the Abuja-Kaduna train attack, we would have gone far with these processes at the Lagos-Ibadan rail.”
